


her

by falterth



Category: Naruto
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, LGBTQ Themes, Trans Female Character, Trans Namikaze Minato
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 05:57:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15745662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falterth/pseuds/falterth
Summary: “You know how everyone used to think I acted like a girl and was really girly and stuff?”"Yeah.""It's because I am one."





	her

**Author's Note:**

> WARNINGS: In the beginning, he/him pronouns are used for Minato. This is because she hasn't come out yet and Kushina doesn't know any better. The fic DOES switch to the proper pronouns after she reveals to Kushina that she's trans.

“You know how everyone used to think I acted like a girl and was really girly and stuff?”  
  
Kushina turns around from where she’s working on a complicated seal. Minato stands in the doorway—and normally, this would _be_ normal, because he’s got a habit of doing that—but he looks nervous this time, which is definitely _not_ normal, so Kushina wipes her hands off on a rag and turns to face him.

He seems to be waiting for an answer, but Kushina doesn’t know how to _give_ one. It’s—the question had been kind of out of the blue, and she’s still kind of in the zone from sealing so everything’s kind of frazzled right now and Kushina really, _really_ wants to get back to working on the seal because she’s so close, she just needs to switch around the symbols for _blood_ and _fire_ and then it’ll work _perfectly,_ and—and she truly, genuinely can’t think of anything that would relate to this. Besides, the last of _that_ teasing had stopped when he’d gone after Kushina all by himself to save her from some Kumo nin, so she doesn’t see why it’s relevant now.

(Not that she’d needed it, but it was still a nice gesture and Minato had been a lot more confident afterward.)

But she says, “Yeah,” anyway, because it’s not like she could really forget it, and then he says, “It’s because I am one.”

Kushina knows she heard right, because she’s a competent kunoichi, damnit, but that doesn’t stop her from asking, “What?” in a tone so dumb and airheaded that she considers whacking herself in the face for it.

“I’m—gods, I knew this was a bad idea, I’m so sorry, I’m just gonna—you know what, I’m gonna go, we can—”

Kushina cuts off Minato’s rambling with a decisive swipe of her arm. Minato stares at her, brow furrowed, lips just beginning to form the next word in what would have become a ramble long enough to span novels, and she takes a deep breath in.

“I heard what you said, Minato,” Kushina says, and now Minato looks to be on the verge of _tears_ and that—that is wrong and bad so Kushina will put a stop to it. “Is—um. Well, I don’t really know how to say things like this. Did you have anything else you—I know you might have wanted to tell me—I . . . well, if you’re a girl, then you’re a girl, right?”

Minato looks kind of dumbfounded, but says, “Yeah, actually, I kind of had this whole thing prepared and—gods, that just kind of fell apart instantly—do you—I mean, of course I’m being serious and I don’t even want you to _think_ that I was joking but I’ve—known for a long time and I kind of felt like I should have told you sooner but I was _nervous,_ oh, gods, I was so nervous, and I didn’t want you to be really surprised but it—it was kind of inevitable, really, and oh gods I’m rambling again. I just—I really—I always wanted to join kunoichi classes, you know? I mean it wasn’t that bad, just a kind of faint, I really wish I could be there, but—um, I just realized we’re both standing in the sealing room, maybe we should—”

“Get out of here and have this talk somewhere else?” Kushina asks, and Minato nods.

Kushina leads the way into the living room, plops herself down on the couch, and then watches as Minato sits down on one of the chairs, which is kind of weird because they _always_ sit together, and then, there is silence. It’s an awkward silence, in which Kushina wracks her brain desperately for something to say, because it’s not every day that she has this conversation—in fact, she’s only had it once, with her jōnin-sensei, and that was after she’d already transitioned and everything and it was more of an informative talk more than anything else.

The only thing she can think of is to ask if Minato—or, as the case may be, _not_ Minato—wants a name change.

“So are—”

“I’ve been—”

“You go first,” Kushina says, already feeling her face redden. “This is—um—well, what I mean to say is this is your conversation, y’know?”

“No,” Minato says, face equally red, “you go first. I kind of dumped a lot on you.”

“Definitely a girl, right?” Kushina asks, and Minato nods. “Uh . . . is there . . . another name you want me to call you?”

Minato nods, looking nervous, and says, “Actually—no, I—is it weird if I say I’m kind of attached to my name—I mean, not like, I like it because it’s really, really kind of a masculine name but—but I’m—I don’t know, I guess I never really thought about it beyond looking at some names and none of them ever felt right—”

Kushina holds her hand up. Minato pauses, looking out of breath but kind of relieved to be stopped. “That’s okay,” Kushina says. “It’s your name, and if you don’t want to change it, that’s fine! Don’t do something you don’t wanna do. But, y’know, if you ever do wanna, you gotta know I’m always gonna support you.”

Minato puts a hand over her mouth like she’s not sure if she’s about to laugh or cry. Kushina can only wait, and look, and _wait._

“So,” Minato says, and there’s the question, “I’ve—I’ve, um—I know you’ve never dated any girls—well, except me but you didn’t _know_ I was one—but—are you gonna—I mean, that is to say, I know I still _look_ like a guy right now but once I—are we still gonna be . . . you know . . . us?”

“If you’re asking if we’re over—the answer is no. I like girls too, you dolt, I’ve just never dated any girls—well, y’know, except you—that I _knew_ about.” It’s _hard_ to say these things. Kushina knows that she loves Minato, and she doesn’t really care that Minato’s not her husband, she’s her _wife,_ and of course Kushina will love her no matter what, how is that even a _question—_ it’s easy to think these things, to have an impression of a feeling of acceptance, of love, of caring. But the hard part is getting it across clearly in speech, getting it across so that Minato knows that she accepts her for sure, forever, for all the rest of her days. Well. Words are stupid, so Kushina settles for getting up off the couch and hugging Minato.

She returns the hug strongly, and mumbles into Kushina’s shoulder, “I really want to transition,” and if her voice cracks in the middle, Kushina doesn’t call her out on it.

“Nobody’s gonna stop you,” Kushina says, equally quiet, and then continues, “and if anyone even _tries_ to say anything, they’ll have to bring it up with me. I’m the goddamn Hokage.”

Minato laughs, and it’s watery but it’s genuine and Kushina counts that as a victory in her book.


End file.
